1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to so-called outer mirrors, such as fender mirrors and door mirrors for automobiles. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in a connection arrangement for a mirror back supporting plate for supporting a mirror body at the back thereof and a mirror support member fixed in a mirror case.
2. Prior art
As is well known, in automobile outer mirror assemblies of the above type, it is necessary that the mirror back supporting plate and the mirror body be rotatably mounted relative to the mirror support member in order that the angle of the mirror may be adjusted in upward, downward, and lateral directions.
A typical prior-art connection arrangement for the mirror back supporting plate and the mirror support member is shown in FIG. 7. Such a connection arrangement is disclosed in Japanese utility mode publication No. 40367/1985. The connection arrangement shown is such that a connecting portion 2a of a mirror back supporting plate 2 is rotatably connected to a connecting portion of a mirror support member 5 by means of a setscrew 4. This arrangement will be described in detail below.
In FIG. 7, numeral 2 is a mirror back support plate for supporting a mirror body 1 at the back thereof, and 5 is a mirror support member fixed in a mirror case (not shown). The mirror back support plate 2 has a protuberant connecting portion 2a of a semispherical shape located generally centrally thereof. The mirror support member 5 has a semispherical recess 5a engageable with the protuberant connecting portion 2a. The semispherical protuberant connecting portion 2a of the mirror back supporting plate 2 is fitted on its inner periphery side with a saucer-shaped clutch member 6 and a setscrew 4 is screwed into a central protuberance 5b of the mirror support member 5 from the inner periphery side of said semispherical protuberant connecting portion 2a. A coil spring 3 is fitted on the outer periphery of the setscrew 4 in the semispherical protuberant connecting portion 2a, said coil spring 3 being compressedly held between a head portion 4a of the setscrew 4 and the clutch member 6. Thus, the connecting portion 2a of the mirror back support plate 2 is held between the outer periphery of the clutch member 6 and the semispherical recess 5a of the mirror support member 5. Further, the presence of the coil spring 3 permits the connecting portion 2a to be resiliently held in position. Therefore, by tilting the mirror back support plate together with the mirror body 1 in any desired direction with respect to the mirror supporting member 5, either by hand or by electric drive means, the connecting portion 2a of the mirror back support plate 2 can be caused to slide smoothly relative to the semispherical recess 5a of the mirror support member 5.
With the above described arrangement, however, the trouble is that screwing operation with the setscrew 4 is required when the mirror back support plate 2 on which the mirror body 1 is supported is mounted to the mirror support member 5, which means laborious and time consuming work.